Monopolies provide no antidote to World Cup fever
Spectators across Europe and the world will be looking to back their favourite team and players to excel in South Africa, though somewhat ironically, as the world marvels over what high-level competition can achieve, millions of Europeans will have their enjoyment stunted this summer, by gambling legislation which strives to keep the competition at arm's length.
At right2bet, we're keen to use the World Cup as an opportunity to highlight how those consumers being forced to use a state monopoly provider are being short-changed.
We've commissioned a study that will analyze the odds offered on every single World Cup match by Europe's monopolies, and will then compare them to those offered by private operators. Judging from what we've seen in the weekly comparison feature that we run on our website, we're expecting the discrepancy in value offered to be significant, and our hope is that the published report will open the eyes of regulators, governments and consumers worldwide.
Monopolies in Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Denmark will come under scrutiny in the report. So too will French operators PMU and FDJ, both of whom we believe to be beneficiaries of the new French online gambling laws, which despite their stated intention, will act to strengthen the positions of local providers, rather than the position of French consumers.
The odds offered by the French monopolies are particularly interesting, since they will show clearly whether or not French consumers have actually benefited from the controversial legislation.
Of course, offering better odds and greater value does not give an operator the right to be licensed and freely available, they must also meet the rigorous standards of customer care and security in order to be deemed legal, and our report will not be using any odds offered (no matter how good) by black-market bookies.
The aim of the report isn't to show how monopolies are offering worse odds than everyone else, rather the aim is to show how monopolies are offering worse odds than other licensed European providers who are as adept, if not better, at ensuring customer safety and crime prevention.
Consumers losing out on bigger wins because their authorities have acted to protect the revenue brought in by monopolies is a situation that needs to change. We hope our report once published will provide another solid string to the bow of an argument that is gaining momentum across the continent.
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